Child Welfare Panel
Quality representation for Alberta parents and guardians.
In this section
Introduction
Better representation for parents and guardians dealing with child welfare matters
Legal Aid Alberta’s Child Welfare Panel will work to support roster lawyers that take on child welfare certificates. The goal is to help ensure lawyers receive the appropriate support, training and mentoring needed to work on these files. This will include knowledge of all relevant provincial, federal and local child welfare legislation.
Benefits
- Ability to develop an expertise and practice in child welfare.
- Ability to get certificates on child welfare files.
Enhance knowledge and skillsets. - Opportunities to be a mentor and share your child welfare expertise.
Reasons to apply
Help address systemic issues in Canada.
One in 10 children in Alberta are of Indigenous heritage and make up almost 70 per cent of those in the child welfare system. In Alberta, the overrepresentation of Indigenous children is among the highest in Canada. The overrepresentation began long ago, accelerated in the 1960s with the Sixties Scoop, and has become more noticeable in recent decades.
You share LAA values.
Representation of parents and guardians in child welfare cases is a mandated service part of LAA’s Governance Agreement and is a priority area for our offices, where we have a team of lawyers who have training and knowledge in child welfare matters.
What to expect
Number of files
The number of child welfare files may vary substantially between geographic service areas. LAA cannot estimate how many certificates it may offer to panel members as this depends on how many lawyers LAA selects for the panel and where these lawyers practice law.
All child welfare files are sent in priority to the staff offices for acceptance. Child welfare files will be sent to roster panel members when the staff offices have a legal conflict of interest, do not service a geographic location, are at capacity for child welfare files or where a roster counsel has a pre-existing relationship with the client. Each panel member is expected to maintain experience and currency in child welfare matters by taking a reasonable number of child representation files offered to them during their time on the panel. Lawyers on the panel must also be prepared to accept files throughout their geographic service areas.
Continuing legal education
In addition to taking these files, panel lawyers are expected to seek out continuing legal education opportunities relevant to the competencies listed above and complete at least 6 hours per year of professional continuing education in child welfare.
This may include a combination of:
- Attending educational sessions, seminars, or webinars offered by LAA’s staff or roster lawyers or others in the area of child protection.
- Attending educational sessions on child protection offered by a recognized organization or associations including but not limited to Legal Education Society of Alberta (“LESA”’), Legal Representation of Children and Youth (“LRCY”), Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (“AFCC”), Canadian Bar Association (“CBA”), National Family Law Conference Wahkohtowin Lodge, University of Alberta Faculty of Law or other private educational opportunities that may be offered from time to time.
- Reading treatises, academic papers and caselaw relevant to child protection.
- Undertaking cultural competency awareness sessions or other educational opportunities that helps the lawyer gain a greater understanding of the challenges facing Indigenous children and families.
LAA may also direct panel members to undertake specific professional development activities. Lawyers who intend to reapply to the panel should be prepared to explain what continuing legal education they have undertaken in relation to the panel competencies.
Standards and competencies
Competitive applicants will demonstrate the following competencies:
- Significant knowledge of and experience in child welfare proceedings under Child, Youth Family Enhancement Act (hereinafter referred to as “CYFEA”), the CYFEA Regulations and Children Services Enhancement Act Policy Manual including the case law in the reading list detailed in Appendix A to the Child Welfare Standards.
- Good understanding of the interplay between CYFEA and the Family Law Act as it relates to private guardianship, guardianship and other parenting arrangements. A strong knowledge of the rules of evidence is necessary as they relate to running a child welfare trial. Counsel should have experience in conducting all aspects of a child welfare file from running initial custody hearings, negotiating resolutions to conducting a child welfare trial.
- Specific education and experience in representation of Indigenous individuals in the child protection matters. Applicants must demonstrate an appreciation of the challenges faced by Indigenous individuals in the child protection and criminal justice system. Lawyers must have a deep understanding of the issues faced by Indigenous peoples and the continuing impacts that colonialism plays in their family’s lives.
- Knowledge of an Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families Manual including the caselaw in the reading list attached as Appendix A to the Child Welfare Standards, the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Recommendations, the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry’s Call to Justice and the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate Special Report on the Overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the Child welfare system in Alberta are required reading.
- Strong communication, problem solving, conflict management, resolution focused and negotiation skills in working with families involved in the child welfare system. This includes, for example, interest or experience working with families from Indigenous and marginalized communities, newcomers to Canada, families who are experiencing domestic violence, poverty, addiction, in addition to family breakdown.
- Familiarity with the agencies and programs that serve families involved in the child welfare system within the lawyer’s geographic service area.
Lawyers do require direct or extensive experience in the areas listed above, but if a lawyer lacks directly relevant experience in an area, the lawyer should have a plan for maintaining those competencies while a member of the panel.
Selection process
LAA roster lawyers who have practiced child welfare law in Alberta for a minimum of three years, with approximately 33 per cent of their practice in child protection work, are eligible to apply.
Lawyers who are interested in joining this panel must submit the application form to LAA before the deadline noted on the LAA website. Lawyers will be selected for the panel in accordance with the process set out in LAA’s Administrative Policy 6.
If a lawyer lacks the requisite relevant experience in an area or does not have three years of experience with approximately 33 per cent of their practice in child welfare, they must find a child welfare mentor lawyer who is on the Child Welfare Panel. The junior lawyer must work with that mentor for at least one year prior to applying for the panel to gain hands-on experience in child welfare matters prior to their application for the panel being considered.
In addition, the lawyer must be committed to attend any educational sessions on child welfare offered by LAA and be prepared to participate in mentorship opportunities and/or file reviews.
The panel selection committee will review applications, may determine an interview is required and a LAA staff member may contact references listed on the application form to discuss the applicant’s interest, aptitude, or experience. By applying to the panel, roster lawyers authorize LAA to make confidential inquiries into the lawyer’s qualifications and competencies.
Additional clarification
We are aware of some concerns regarding the updated Panel Standards and Mandatory Reading List. Based on feedback from our roster partners, we have reviewed and revisited several aspects of the standards.
Below is a summary of the minimum requirements for the Child Welfare Panel, along with key clarifications.
Experience
- A minimum of three years of practice in child welfare law in Canada, with approximately 33 per cent of practice being in the area of child welfare law.
- Lawyers practising in rural locations, where child welfare files are less prevalent, may be considered even if they do not meet the 33 per cent threshold.
- If this applies to you, please explain this in your application.
- As counsel of record for a parent on a child welfare matter in Alberta, you must have completed at least 10 child welfare files within the last three years, either through LAA certificates or equivalent private retainer files. These must involve contested trials and/or contested hearings, including:
- At least three contested initial custody or access hearings
- Participation in at least three Judicial Dispute Resolutions (JDRs), if utilized in your jurisdiction
- Preparation for and/or conduct of at least two Temporary Guardianship Trials
- Preparation for and/or conduct of at least three Permanent Guardianship Trials
- If you do not meet one or more of these criteria for files you have taken on in the last three years, , please provide an explanation in your application. For example:
- If you prepared for initial custody conferences but did not conduct them, or if files were received after that stage
- If JDRs are not used in your jurisdiction
- If Temporary or Permanent Guardianship matters did not proceed to trial
Mandatory Reading List
We understand that the Reading List may appear ambitious, and that some counsel have concerns about attesting without recently re-reading all the materials.
As counsel representing parents in child welfare matters, LAA expects that you are familiar with:
- The two core pieces of legislation, and
- Other key materials or recommendations that inform child welfare practice.
Counsel are expected to be familiar with the key resources listed and to reference them where helpful in advancing legal arguments for clients. While lawyers are not expected to be experts in the Child Services Manual, counsel should be aware of its existence and use it where appropriate to ensure Children Services workers are held accountable when required to support parents and children.
With respect to case law:
- If you are already familiar with a listed case and have previously reviewed it, that is sufficient.
- If you do not recognize a listed case, you are expected to read it, particularly given the evolving case law under An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, as many child welfare files involve Indigenous children.
Application of requirements
These requirements and expectations apply to both roster and staff lawyers who accept child welfare certificates.
How to apply
Lawyers who are interested in joining this panel must submit the completed application form (and any attachments) to: [email protected].
How to re-apply
Lawyers who are already on the Child Representation Panel who wish to be considered for Re-Empanelment must submit the Re-Empanelment Application to LAA via email to [email protected].
Application and reapplication deadline is March 20, 2026.
Disclaimer
The Child Welfare Panel is not a certification of excellence or endorsement of a lawyer’s skills. If a lawyer is selected for the panel, LAA does not necessarily view the lawyer as an “expert” in child welfare.
Similarly, if a lawyer is not selected for the panel, this does not reflect LAA’s views about whether that lawyer can competently represent child welfare matters.
Lawyers who are selected for the panel must not mention their panel membership in their advertising materials.
Contact
For more information, contact [email protected].
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